by N. V. Rose
She pouted like that when she was two, Katherine telepathed.
Some things never change, unfortunately, Maude answered.
Brielle’s mouth fell open. Her mom spoke telepathically, too?
It was like the woman that bore her, raised her and loved her was a woman she hardly knew. Katherine could feel her daughter’s mind racing.
“Stand up, Brielle,” Katherine encouraged.
“Don’t coddle her, Maude cautioned.
“She might be the savior, Maude, but she is still my daughter,” Katherine rebuffed. “Brielle, come darling, stand up.”
Brielle did as her mother asked. Her questions and confusion far outweighed her previous emotionality.
“Why didn’t you tell me,” Brielle asked before fully standing to her feet.
“Would you have believed me? Understood?” Katherine asked.
Brielle knew the answers to both questions were no, but that didn’t stop her from feeling misled.
“If you know everything you know, why were you trying to reach me? Maude didn’t tell you through the brain, where I was?”
It was a fair question.
“I knew from early on that you were called to a higher purpose. Yes, I knew that. What I didn’t know was when or how it would happen,” Katherine explained. “I called because I care, Brielle. Regardless of what and who you are to everyone else, you will always, always be my little girl.”
“So, this whole guardian thing, what does it mean?”
Katherine reached out her hands. Brielle looked into her mother’s eyes and then accepted them.
“Being a guardian means that I too have a responsibility to the council. I had to put my feelings aside, so you could fulfill your destiny. I had to be willing to let you go when the time came. And apparently, that time is now.”
“Let me go,” Brielle asked.
“Yes honey, let you go. No mother ever wants to let their child go out into the world, knowing they will face regular challenges in growing to maturity. Knowing that you were called to be our savior, the real power, mystical challenges you would face,” Katherine shook her head as her eyes misted with tears. “I had to put my feelings aside, more than any mother, so you could be who you are to everyone.”
A single tear fell from Katherine’s eye onto her cinnamon cheek. Brielle stared, having never remembered seeing her mother cry. With her hand, Brielle reached up and wiped her mother’s tear away. There was a part of Brielle that wanted to hold on to the anger and feelings of deception. But hearing the hurt in her mother’s voice, getting a glimpse of what she’d been through, softened the Savior's heart.
“I need for my sacrifice not to be in vain, Brielle,” her mother continued. “It will be hard, you will want to quit, but you can’t. Do you understand? If you give up, everything I’ve done to love and protect you would have been for nothing.”
“But what about that man that came after you,” Brielle asked. “He could have killed you, mom!” Brielle continued before her mother interjected.
“If we weren’t there, what would have happened to you?” Feelings of fear and exacerbation infiltrated Brielle’s voice.
“He was there because of you,” Maude interrupted.
Spinning around, Brielle stared at Maude.
“I warned of the risk.”
“Yeah you did,” Brielle acquiesced, “but I never thought they would go after my mother.
“They know she’s your weakness,” Maude answered.
“But not weak,” Katherine added. “I can protect myself.”
But Maude didn’t say her mother was weak. And now, knowing her mother was a guardian, Brielle didn’t take her for weak. Maude said, weakness. Brielle thought about asking how they knew but didn’t. She already knew the answer to that question. And it was true. She also knew, Maude was right. Brielle would do anything for her mother.
“Simeon.”
“Yes, Brielle,” Maude affirmed. “That was Simeon, the man you have to defeat.”
Brielle considered how helpless she felt, being cloaked and unable to protect her mother. She also thought about what it would have been like had Jefferson and Markus not been there.
If I’m going to do this, I need to know my mom’s protected. She needs to be in the white realm with the council so she’s safe.”
Reaching for her daughter’s arm, Katherine turned Brielle to face her.
“I can take care of myself,” Katherine insisted.
“That’s not what it looked like to me,” Brielle murmured.
“That’s because, the true me had not been revealed to you. Had I bent fire, rumbled the ground or commanded the wind with my voice, how would you have responded?”
“Shocked,” Brielle confessed.
“That’s why I ran and didn’t defend. Not because I can’t but because it wasn’t time.”
Markus stayed with Jefferson until they came. Markus felt bad for inviting Jefferson into a situation that got him hurt. There would be time for apologies, but as the Sage entered the room, Markus’ desire to apologize would have to wait. Dipping his head respectfully, Markus backed away from Jefferson; never turning his back on the wise one. The Sage was not a part of the council. She was essential to the council and all those who occupied the white realm. Catori-Amadahy. Her name means spirit, forest water, because from water, all things are made new. She glided into the room. Her long gray hair was parted down the center. The braids, knotted at the end, flowed against the floor-length midnight-blue robe she wore. Catori-Amadahy kept her feet bare; to feel the earth underneath them. No one knew how old she was. No one speculated. What they did know was that Catori-Amadahy’s remedies were as old as time itself, and she was a healer.
Beside Jefferson’s bed were three bowls Catori-Amadahy placed there. She moved in graceful motion towards Jefferson. Catori walked the length of the bed with her hands extended over the one in need of her intervention. Once Catori-Amadahy reached Jefferson’s head, she paused then moved her hands in a swirling motion over him. The silence of the Sage’s work was broken when Catori began to hum and then chant as she turned to the three bowls.
“Wakan Tanka Taolowan
Wicakicopi Olowan
Tiuma Hiyupi Olowan
Wakan Wicak'upi Olowan
Woawanyanke Olowan
Wakan Iglustanpi Olowan”
Catori-Amadahy pulled her hands in and rubbed them together over the largest bowl. From her enchanted hands sprung clear water that dripped into the bowl. Markus stood in awe of her power. As with the first bowl, the Sage manifested a brown powder into the second, and green leaves into the third. Catori-Amadahy lowered her hands to her sides. Silence returned. Then, the smaller of the bowls that contained the leaves, lifted from the table, turned mid-air, and dropped its contents into the largest bowl. The second bowl with the powder lifted from the table and it too turned, releasing its contents into the larger bowl. Once all thee containers were back on the table, Catori lifted her left hand. She began to hum again and turned her hand over and under and over again. The contents of the large bowl mimicked her movement; mixing and folding until the consistency the Sage desired was achieved.
With the bowl in hand, Catori turned to Jefferson. With a single finger, the Sage applied the remedy to Jefferson’s head. She extended the bowl in front of her, bowed her head, and glided to the doorway.
“He will sleep for three cycles of the moon. When he awakens, he will be well.”
Catori-Amadahy exited as quietly as she entered.
Chapter Five
Simeon wasn’t used to the kind of challenge he faced in Fairburn. He was used to being the aggressor, the one issuing the punishment, not receiving it. Simeon had no doubt that the woman, the mother, would have been easy to overcome. He could conjure enough water from her kitchen sink to drown her where she stood. Simeon anticipated seeing the one they called the savior. He wanted to prove his superiority, his worthiness of the time Kaine Kross invested in him. Simeon wanted
to show Brielle what he could do so she like most others would fear him. The backyard of her childhood home was not the battlefield for the epic fight that would occur between them. His presence in Fairburn was to get a look at her and see what she could do.
But that’s not what happened. She had company, powerful company. Simeon didn’t anticipate that. The burn to his arm was indicative of just how much Simeon underestimated his opponent or opponents in this case. He was furious. Simeon’s inability to regulate his emotions fueled his energy, making him reckless and unthinking. Kaine chastised him about that, told him of the importance of being control of his emotions. But that didn’t stop Simeon from crashing waves onto the road in front of him, wiping out cars and leveling fences until he felt better.
As the random cars slid from the road, Simeon threw his head back and laughed so hard his stomach hurt. He didn’t care if the cars were occupied. They were like toys on a plastic race track he had as a child. The sound of steel ramming against steel; flipping in mid-air and the sound being drowned out by the crashing waves his hands controlled, pleased Simeon. Until he grew tired of it. What he was doing was child’s play and Simeon quickly bored with it. His anger receded but remain just under the surface. Simeon’s brow furrowed, and his eyes narrowed as he thought about revenge. Brielle was the target. He would avenge what she and her friends did to him. They would pay. Simeon was sure of that.
Entering training, Brielle had a lot on her mind. She knew what was expected of her and stood in the middle of the training area, waiting to see what challenges Maude had for her today. Weighing heavily on her heart was the fact that her mother would be returning to their hometown instead of staying in the white realm with her. They talked about it long into the night; Brielle trying to convince her mother that it was safer for her to stay. Brielle even went so far as to tell her mother that she needed her mom here with her. Katherine understood that, and she promised that they would be in better contact and she would visit, but she couldn’t stay. Katherine said there were things back home she was responsible for; things she had to attend to, responsibilities that still needed her attention. Brielle had no choice but to accept her mother’s decision, but she didn’t have to like it.
And Jefferson…
Despite the fact Markus reassured her that Jefferson would be okay, Brielle still felt responsible for what happened to him. Had she not cajoled him into coming alone, he wouldn’t have been hurt. Brielle’s head was clouded, and her heart was heavy. But she promised her mother that she would give her all in becoming the savior. So, Brielle stood in the center of the training area, prepared to fight.
The door to the training area opened and Maude walked in. Brielle’s eyes widened as she watched Maude stride in.
“Your mouth is hanging open as though the hinge is broken.”
Brielle didn’t even realize it, and immediately remedied the situation. But as Maude stepped into the light, Brielle’s mouth fell open again.
What’s with the getup, Brielle thought and immediately regretted as Maude slowly turned in her direction and cast shaded eyes toward her student. Maude was a fashion icon; always impeccably dressed in straight lines and a monochrome palette. But today, her outfit floated around her slender frame, loose and comfortable. Brielle had never seen her teacher dressed in such a way.
“Take off your shoes and socks,” Maude instructed, not responding further to Brielle’s slip of the tongue.
After her last misstep, Brielle didn’t even think the question that threatened to form on her lips. She complied with her teachers’ direction without resistance. Maude stepped out of the slides she wore and positioned herself shoulder to shoulder with Brielle. Effortlessly, Maude lowered her lengthy body down toward the ground and sat with her legs folded one over the other. Brielle followed suit and then waited for further instruction.
“Today we center ourselves through quiet meditation,” Maude began.
“One strength, one power. That is the past to true mastery, understanding one strength, one power. Your natural predilection is wind. We will focus on energy on that.”
Maude placed her arms on her legs and turned her palms up. Brielle did the same.
“Concentrate on your breathing.”
Maude became silent and closed her eyes. Brielle had never meditated before, but she figured if she mimicked her teacher and did what Maude said, meditation would come to her. Closing her eyes, Brielle tried to still her mind.
Mom, Jefferson, mom, Jefferson. Brielle inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. But the two names kept playing in her mind like a record that was stuck on the same track. Mom…Jefferson…. Brielle continued to breathe, doing everything she knew how to clear her thoughts. Mom… Jefferson… air… air…
A single leaf lay on the ground. With her mind’s eye, Brielle nudged the leaf and then lifted it into the air, suspending it just above the palm of her hand. When she removed her hand, she held a steady breath that kept the leaf there. Brielle’s chest rose and fell at a slow steady rate. The leaf waited for her until she returned. When Brielle did, she conjured the leaf stretching it and making it dance in the air with the power of her thoughts. Behind closed eyelids, Brielle’s eyes began to glow a powerful green. The singular leaf danced a thousand miles and then returned to her.
Air…
It was what she knew. A grove of trees entered into her mind and with an exhale of her breath, the trees bowed without a single leaf being lost.
Air…
A darkened sky presented itself to her. The glow from Brielle’s eyes radiated as she whirled her hand in a circle, drawing the air in a funnel, spinning it on her fingertip and then breathing greater life into it, expanding its size and strength. The funnel cloud jetted across the midnight sky and dissipated at Brielle’s command.
Simeon…
Brielle’s breathing became jagged as her thoughts were invaded by the enemy. She could see him, standing on the threshold of her childhood home, sneering at her and threatening the one she loved most. There was no cloak there and from the lift of Simeon’s eyebrow, Brielle knew he saw her. Only her mother stood between Brielle and her nemesis. Brielle’s breathing became erratic as she tried to anticipate Simeon’s next move. The smile never left his lips as Simeon lifted a single hand and held it there; not in the direction of her mother, but just in the air. Brielle heard it before she saw it; the sound of water seemed to be all around her, all-encompassing. From the street she stood on to the grass of the houses on her block, water started to rise; piercing the concrete and seeping through the grass. Everything around her was covered by water, high as the second step in her family home. Brielle’s feet up to her knees was covered in water. But it was still, not threatening, not rushing, just still water.
Brielle started to question Simeon’s motivation. Maybe he was just showing out? If he was, Brielle was far from impressed. But she knew he was capable of more. She’d seen him in action. He hurt Jefferson.
Mom, I need for you to move away from him, Brielle telepathed. She knew Simeon had the power to morph powers. Maybe he heard her, maybe he didn’t but Brielle was willing to take that chance. She knew her mother heard her though, as Katherine slowly nodded her head; undiscoverable to Simeon who was otherwise preoccupied with staring down Brielle. Katherine reached her hand and secured it on the framing of the door.
Outwardly, in the meditation room, Brielle’s body remained in the meditative position. Intuitively, Maude could feel her student’s breathing escalate. Brielle needed to work through it to get to a place of clarity and focus so Maude didn’t intercede. Brielle’s eyes glowed a brighter shade of green and as she commanded the winds, her hair lifted from her shoulders. The water around her started to move in waves that grew bigger as more of Brielle’s air circulated amongst it. Simultaneously, Simeon lifted both his hands, instructing the water in a way Brielle didn’t yet know. Now Brielle stood in a sea of water; rocking and surging, shaking her footing. When Brielle lifted her arms and turned her face
towards the sky, she lifted her body above the water and created a platform of water to stand on.
Now mother!
A force of wind lifted the water around her and surged toward Simeon. Katherine pulled herself out of the door frame and got out of the way just as the first wave headed towards Simeon. In defense, he lifted his hands and stopped Brielle’s wave from crashing against him, giving Katherine enough time to duck on the side of the house. It was a battle of wills with the wave of water being pushed on one side by Brielle and pushed on the other side by Simeon. Brielle refused to retreat, riding the platform of water closer to Simeon, increasing the force of the wind she used to compel the water in his direction. The water underneath the platform raged and roared under Simeon’s direction. Brielle lifted the platform higher and increased the wind around her, shaking the slats on the houses.
The veins in Simeon’s forehead pulsed as he held the water at bay. He was still inside the house, limiting his mobility. That was a critical error, one he recognized and needed to immediately correct. Closing his eyes, Simeon used osmosis to cloak Brielle’s power and created a wind that lifted him out of the confines of the house and out of Brielle’s sight. The wave they’d been fighting over crashed into Brielle’s house and returned to the water that surrounded it.
“Brielle!”
It was her mother. Simeon was using the power of wind to draw her mother towards him. Katherine was fighting as hard as she could to hold on to whatever her fingers could hold but Simeon’s power overpowered her. Brielle started to panic. She had to save her mother. The glow in Brielle’s eyes became so intensely green they iridescent. Summoning the greatest force of wind Brielle had ever conjured, a Gail-force wind was directed straight at Simeon. His energies were directed toward his potential victim and were no longer fully focused on Brielle. The two-hundred mile an hour wind Brielle sent sailing in Simeon’s direction, hit him with the strength of a Mack truck. His scrawny body went sailing into the air and the wind he directed at Katherine was severed. Brielle quieted the wind in her mother’s direction, softening her fall. Simeon’s wail from his unexpected ascension broke Brielle’s meditation.